Yoga_Journal_Singapore_FebruaryMarch_2017

24

february / march 2017

yogajournal.com.sg

By Ray Long, MD

How can I best strengthen and

stretch my psoas?

Body of knowledge

PHOTO: RICK CUMMINGS; ILLUSTRATION: MICHELE GRAHAM

...continued on Page 26

THE HUMAN BODY IS somewhat of a mad scientist. Case in point: the

way our muscles work. Some muscles are easy to consciously access,

meaning they take direction from us. For example, you can

intentionally spread your toes in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). But other

muscles work more autonomously, with no apparent direction from

the conscious mind—like the muscles working in the background to

maintain your posture. These muscles are more difficult to access

intentionally because their function involves tasks we have long since

relegated to the unconscious mind.

One such muscle that works mostly in the background (or

unconsciously) is the psoas, a core muscle that’s part of the all-important

hip flexors and that helps to stabilize the spine. Why does such a big,

important muscle have such minor representation in the motor cortex of

the brain? It’s all about energy efficiency: We use our psoas to sit down,

stand up, and move from lying down to seated; we use it to walk, run,

climb, and twist our torso. From a very early age, we use the psoas so

much that the brain reassigns it to the level of “background function,”

where movement occurs without conscious thought.

From my experience, few people are able to engage their psoas

voluntarily (like when you contract your biceps to “make a muscle”). This

may be because its actions become habitual during infancy. Yet here’s

the good news: You can learn to consciously utilize muscles that tend to

do their own thing, and when you do, it can transform your yoga

practice. Take Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) to the right

side, for example. When flexing to the right, you could simply use gravity

to move your torso over your leg. However, learning to “turn on” your

psoas to consciously flex your trunk provides muscular stabilization for

your spine, pelvis, and hip that ultimately helps you find the fullest

expression of the pose.

To start to awaken your psoas, it helps to know where it is in the

body. This muscle originates from the twelfth thoracic vertebra (T12) and

the lumbar vertebrae (L1 through L4, with a deep layer originating from L1

through L5), and it runs along either side of the spine, behind the

stomach, intestines, and female reproductive organs. From the spine, the

psoas continues forward and down, crossing over the front of your

sacroiliac joint and joining with the iliacus muscle (which originates on

the inside of the pelvis, or the ilium). The psoas and iliacus work together

so closely that they’re often referred to as one: the iliopsoas. The

iliopsoas then runs over the brim of the pelvis to insert into the lesser

trochanter, a knoblike structure on the upper inside of the femur

(thighbone).

It’s because the psoas crosses multiple joints that it’s able to move the

body in so many ways. For starters, the psoas acts to flex the hip:

RECTUS

ABDOMINIS

EXTERNAL

OBLIQUE

PSOAS

ILIACUS

ILIUM

LESSER

TROCHANTER

OF FEMUR

FEMUR

ractice well

ANATOMY